The Indiana Fever’s star rookie missed 10 of her first 11 shots before finishing with 11 points and eight assists in the team’s 93-69 loss to the Connecticut Sun on Sunday.
The AP’s Rookie of the Year refused to use the early first quarter eye-poke as an excuse for her off-night.
“Got me pretty good in the eye; I don’t think it affected me,” she said. “I felt like I got good shots, they just didn’t go down. Tough time for that to happen. I thought I got some really good looks. Three pretty wide open 3s in the first half, you usually make.”
Clark’s shooting struggles continued early into the third quarter before the Fever called a timeout. The young star smacked a chair on the bench in frustration. That seemed to get her going a little bit as she came out and hit her next three shots, Unfortunately for Indiana, Connecticut guard Marina Mabrey got hot, scoring 11 of her 27 points in the third quarter and the Fever could never recover.
“My shot felt like it was right there,” said Clark, who finished the game 4 for 17 from the field, including missing 11 of her 13 3-point attempts. “It’s so frustrating as a shooter when it won’t go down for you. That’s what (stinks) about it. … We were right there, I think we cut it to eight but then they came back down and hit a 3 on us.”
The Sun switched up their defense as far as who was guarding Clark. DeWanna Bonner, who is 6-foot-4, drew the assignment a lot.
“I took on the challenge, next game she’ll come out firing,” Bonner said.
Clark will get another chance Wednesday in Game 2, hoping to send the series back to Indiana for a decisive third game Friday.
The WNBA’s single-season assist leader made her regular season debut in Connecticut also back in May. She struggled in that game as well, missing 10 of her 15 shots.
Even though this was a road game, like they have most of the season, the Fever had a strong following in Connecticut. It felt like nearly an even split of the sellout crowd who were cheering on almost everything positive that Clark and Indiana were doing.
“Caitlin draws a lot of fans. She’s amazing,” Mabrey said. “They can come see whoever they want to come see, but at the end of day we’re here to win a championship.”
News
(EVIL VIDEO): DiJonai Carrington pokes Caitlin Clark in the eye, leaving the most important player unable to attack.
Fans Question DiJonai Carrington’s Intent on Caitlin Clark Eye Poke After New Video Emerges New video footage of DiJonai Carrington’s eye poke on Caitlin Clark has fans feeling like Carrington poked her on purpose. Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22)…
Caitlin Clark: Eye Injury Was Catalyst For Bad Playoff Playoff: ‘We Played a Bad Game’
Caitlin Clark’s first postseason game of her WNBA career was far from what she probably expected. The Indiana Fever rookie was smacked in the eye by Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington in the first quarter, and it was just the start of a…
HOT VIDEO: A hard hit to the face left Caitlin Clark bruised in her WNBA playoff debut.
Caitlin Clark suffers black eye by slap in WNBA playoff debut Fever star Caitlin Clark takes a hit during first-round loss to Connecticut Sun Caitlin Clark Shrugs Off Black Eye in Tough Playoff Loss In a physical WNBA playoff debut, rookie star Caitlin…
Indiana Fever releases ‘powerful’ promo video to energize fans ahead of playoff game.
Indiana Fever Release Energizing Hype Video Ahead of WNBA Playoffs Indiana Fever primed for game one of the WNBA Playoffs after releasing epic hype video. The Indiana Fever are poised for postseason play, having just released an electrifying hype video ahead of…
Shocking News??? WNBA Takes Action to Destroy Caitlin Clark’s Reputation Before Playoffs
The WNBA left Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark off of their postseason promotional graphic in a bizarre decision omitting one of the faces of the entire league The WNBA X account released an official playoffs hype graphic featuring some of the league’s…
Superstar Dejounte Murray attacks Sheryl Swoopes defending Caitlin Clark
Pelicans star Dejounte Murray fires direct shot at Sheryl Swoopes while reacting to Caitlin Clark’s list of records. (Credit: New Orleans Pelicans/X, Indiana Fever/X and Sheryl Swoopes/Instagram) New Orleans Pelicans star Dejounte Murray took a jab at WNBA legend Sheryl…
End of content
No more pages to load